نقدDarling in the Franxx

The anime Darling in the Franxx is set in a post-apocalyptic future where little remains of human civilization remain. Adults and children live in contrasting environments. Adults live in advanced cities and are immortal, but reproduction and relationships between them have become obsolete and undesirable. Children are artificially created solely to defend the remnants of civilization, called parasites, and are trained solely to pilot the Franxx to defend humanity. The Franxx are piloted in pairs. Children are kept in isolation from adult society in environments nicknamed “bird cages”.

In the early 21st century, the progress of human civilization accelerated with discoveries in mining technology, making it possible to extract magma energy. Magma was considered a new, inexpensive and ubiquitous energy source. The APE organization is the name of the organization whose scientists contributed to this development, whose discoveries have had a significant impact on world politics and the global economy. After discovering human immortality, humanity decided to become immortal, despite the side effects such as reproduction.

Humanity is under constant threat from giant creatures. Children known as Parasites must pilot giant robots in pairs of boys and girls. A team of ten Parasites is assigned to Field 13’s Experimental Squad 13. One of them, named Hiro (Code: 016), is a pilot candidate who cannot be synchronized with his partner. After failing to synchronize, Hiro is kicked out of the pilot team, but suddenly encounters Zero To (Code: 002). Zero To is an elite Franken pilot with Klaxosaur blood, red horns, and a reputation as the “Partner Killer” and it is rumored that Zero To’s partners are killed after mating with him the third time.

After Hiro is expelled during the graduation ceremony, a giant creature attacks, disrupting the ceremony and killing Zero Two’s partner in the operation. Left without a partner, Zero Two allows Hiro to ride with him, and Hiro becomes Zero Two’s “darling” and after a long time, Hiro is able to pilot, surprising everyone.